Taxpayers kept funding Biden's bid

Joe Biden ended his own presidential bid after coming in fifth in the Iowa caucuses more than a year ago. But his presidential campaign lived on — and continued receiving taxpayer money — well after he was elected vice president.

The vice president is not gearing up to challenge President Barack Obama in the 2012 Democratic primaries, though. Rather, he’s keeping his committee, Biden for President Inc., open to tidy up loose ends in preparation for a mandatory federal audit, which could become expensive to defend.

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So, Biden continued requesting federal funds for his campaign — through the so-called primary matching funds program — for months after he was tapped to be Obama’s running mate.

In all, Biden’s campaign received more than $2 million through the program, which matches private contributions with taxpayer money. He requested more than $37,000 in matching funds after he joined the Democratic ticket, including a final payment of $2,275 which came just last week.

The trickle of payments and upkeep of the committee, which continues to pay consultants’ bills and rent office space in Delaware, creates odd optics, but is not uncommon in the quirky world of campaign finance. The situation results from arcane federal election laws that require many campaign committees to stay open — and keep a cash reserve — for months, or even years after an election to balance their books, particularly if they are subject to a Federal Election Commission audit.

Biden’s campaign, which struggled to raise enough cash to compete with Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries, is due to be audited because it received public financing, unlike Obama’s campaign, which set fundraising records by refusing the taxpayer cash and the spending limits that come with it.

On the other hand, the general election campaign of Obama’s vanquished Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, will be audited because it accepted public funding. And it will be the same with the primary campaigns of Democrats John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Dennis J. Kucinich and Mike Gravel, which received a combined total of nearly $16.6 million in matching public funds, as well as Republicans Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter, who got a total of $2.7 million, and independent Ralph Nader, who got $880,000.

A source close to Biden said his campaign, which in September was still asking contributors to submit information to help secure matching payments, will not request any more public funds.

The committee filed a report with the FEC on Tuesday — the day Biden was sworn in as vice president — showing that in December it paid $421 in rent, $33,400 to a fundraiser and a media consultant and $520 for a handful of other expenses.

The bills “were part of the normal process of winding down both of Vice President Biden’s campaign committees and paying outstanding bills,” said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander. “This process will be completed well within the specified time period set by the FEC.”

The recent report showed that Biden’s presidential campaign ended last year with $29,800 in the bank.

That’s probably not enough to pay legal fees related to the audit, said Jason Torchinsky, a lawyer for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign and Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 presidential bid.

The audit “will probably take — my guess — four years,” said Torchinsky, who pointed out that “if the commission finds that there are errors, [Biden] may have to repay the Treasury.”

But Torchinsky said Biden likely could transfer money to foot legal bills from his still-open Senate account, which reported $152,000 in the bank at the end of November, it’s latest filing.